Effingham County keeps millage at 5.596 after public hearing; board cites exemptions and new construction

Effingham County commissioners on Sept. 25 held a public hearing and voted unanimously to keep the county maintenance-and-operations millage at 5.596, the same rate used last year.

County Finance Director Mark Barnes told the board the proposed 5.596 rate is “below the rollback rate” calculated by the state form and that the county faces a modest shortfall tied to higher-than-expected exemptions and shifts in existing property values. "If adopted tonight, the millage rate of 5.596 will be the sixth year in a row that the county has reduced the rate or kept it the same," Barnes said during his presentation.

Barnes and other staff traced the discrepancy between the published digest growth and the rollback calculation to changes in exemptions and the way state law requires the total digest to be reported. The county’s existing-property values, after exemptions were applied, declined relative to last year by about $11.6 million, while new construction boosted the overall digest. Barnes said the rollback rate as calculated on the Georgia PT-32.1 form would have been 5.612 for 2025; the board chose the lower 5.596 rate the county recommended.

Why it matters

The millage rate determines how much property tax revenue the county collects from its unincorporated area and is a principal source of funding for county services. By keeping the rate at 5.596 rather than adopting the mathematically higher rollback rate, the board preserved the same tax rate as the prior year while…